Roberto Martinez comes up with unusual way to monitor training sessions

Former Liverpool and England striker Michael Owen claims Everton manager Roberto Martinez is using drones to monitor his side's training sessions.

Owen, who owns a drone company, made the claim while speaking at the Soccerex conference in Manchester.

The drone would hover above the pitch during training, offering a top down view of the player's positioning that the manager and coaching staff can look at and analyse.

Speaking at the conference, Owen said:

"A good friend of mine introduced me to the drone technology. It’s becoming a big thing in football now.

"At Everton’s Finch Farm training ground, Roberto Martinez wants all his tactical sessions filmed from above – you can really see the game from a different perspective.

"Managers always watch games from the side lines, the dug out. A lot of people wonder why managers go up into the stand during matches on occasions. Its because you can get such a better picture tactically where your men are, and how things are going.

"Well, you go one step further with a drone, a lot of teams now are using this drone technology now to go up and film training sessions so you then can show a player ‘you’re in this position, you should be covering. ‘

"Thierry Henry is doing his coaching badges – he wants all his sessions filmed from above. It really is getting some traction in the sporting world as well."

"It's a great way of watching football, mainly tactically, to envisage where your players should be and where they’re going"

Drones are becoming more and more prevalent nowadays so it is no real surprise that the world of football is embracing the new technology.

It is also encouraging to see Martinez and Everton try new things in order to improve the side and continue the club's tradition of being at the forefront of innovation both on and off the pitch.